The ad below was posted on pg. 9 of the The Hill Times (read by our MPs)
by Parker Donham, Sydney Tar Ponds Agency - Monday, March 8, 2004
We estimate that this ad, designed to discredit the Sierra Club,
cost Nova Scotia tax payers about $2000!
Before you
get suckered
again...

Last month the Sierra Club of canada
held an Ottawa news conference to re-announce its 10-
month-old study of household dust in Sydney, Cape
Breton.

A national news organization, given "advance" details
of the repeat announcement, ran scary headlines like,
"Toxic tar ponds put children at risk".

The study tested household dust samples, collected by
Sierra Club volunteers, for lead and arsenic. From these,
it estimated potential lead levels in Sydney children. It
speculated there was "a one to 15% chance" children
might carry lead above internationally accepted
guidelines.

It sounded awful---unless you knew what the Sierra
Club failed to tell reporters. Public Health nurses already
tested the blood of Sydney children, and not a single one
had elevated lead levels. Not one.

You can find that study at www.gov.ns.ca/health.

The reporter that wrote the scary story was dismayed to
learn the facts the Sierra Club omitted. But her news
organization declined to run a correction, or even a
follow-up story. Children at risk is news. Children are
safe is not.

Sydney reporters know too much about the Tar Ponds
---and the Sierra Club---to fall for such fear-
mongering. Their Parliamentary colleagues should be
no less diligent.

All we ask is that you apply the same skepticism to our
critics as you appropriately apply to us.

...call us for the facts
Parker Donham
Sydney Tar Ponds Agency
Parker@kempthead.ca
902-567-1035

We offer the following ad, which cost tax payers nothing,
and ask you...

Which Parker
do you believe?

On May 15, 2001, Parker Donham said:
"Chronic risk is the issue, and there is every reason to fear the chemical soup is taking a toll"

Today he says Sydney's children are safe.

On May 16, 1999, Parker Donham said:
"Who would want to live next to a notorious toxic-waste site, where Human Health Hazard signs adorn the back fence, authorities advise against letting children play in the yard... No one, that's who."

Today he says newspapers are fear-mongering.

On May 30, 2001, Parker Donham criticized authorities for developing "made for Sydney standards" when he said: "Given Sydney residents' decades of exposure to toxins, shouldn't guidelines for their further exposure be tighter, rather than looser?

Today he claims lead and arsenic levels in Sydney's children are not a problem

On July 15, 2001, Parker Donham ridiculed the provincial government for ignoring the obvious:
"Just because the Sydney Steel coke ovens dumped more than 700,000 tonnes of arsenic-laden sludge into Sydney Harbour over the last 100 years, there's no scientific proof this played any part in the unsafe levels of arsenic showing up in area children."

Today, as the Tar Pond Agency's spokesperson, Donham is paid by the province to discredit legitimate studies that would provide proof of hazards to local residents.

...call us for accurate information
Sierra Club of Canada
412-1 Nicholas St., Ottawa, Ont., K1N 7B7
Tel: (613) 241-4611, Fax: (613) 241-2292
info@sierraclub.ca